Household composition variable: Census 2021

Definition of household composition, categories, and changes since the 2011 Census for use with research and analysis using Census 2021 data.

Last updated:
28 November 2023

Mnemonic: hh_family_composition
Applicability: Household
Type: Derived variable

Definition

Households according to the relationships between members.

One-family households are classified by:

  • the number of dependent children
  • family type (married, civil partnership or cohabiting couple family, or lone parent family)

Other households are classified by:

  • the number of people
  • the number of dependent children
  • whether the household consists only of students or only of people aged 66 and over

Classification

Total number of categories: 15

Code Name
1 One-person household: Aged 66 years and over
2 One-person household: Other
3 Single family household: All aged 66 years and over
4 Single family household: Married or civil partnership couple: No children
5 Single family household: Married or civil partnership couple: Dependent children
6 Single family household: Married or civil partnership couple: All children non-dependent
7 Single family household: Cohabiting couple family: No children
8 Single family household: Cohabiting couple family: With dependent children
9 Single family household: Cohabiting couple family: All children non-dependent
10 Single family household: Lone parent family: With dependent children
11 Single family household: Lone parent family: All children non-dependent
12 Other household types: Other related household: Other family composition
13 Other household types: With dependent children
14 Other household types: Other, including all full-time students and all aged 66 years and over
-8 Does not apply*

*Households with no usual residents.

View all household composition classifications.

Quality information

There are quality considerations around consistency of census data on household and family composition and legal partnership status, and changes in the definition of "other household types" since 2011.

Read more in our Demography and migration quality information for Census 2021 methodology.

Background

Read about how we developed and tested the questions for Census 2021.

Comparability with the 2011 Census

Broadly comparable

This is derived from the legal partnership status derived variable. We have made changes to reflect that people can now marry someone of the same-sex and people of the opposite-sex can be in a civil partnership.

What does broadly comparable mean?

A variable that is broadly comparable means that it can be generally compared with the same variable used in the 2011 Census. However, changes may have been made to the question or options that people could choose from or how write-in answers are classified.

England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons

Broadly comparable

The variable produced for England and Wales allows for the distinction between couples in same-sex and opposite-sex relationships, but does not distinguish between male and female lone parents. This means the output categories produced for the 2021 England and Wales Census may differ from the variables produced by Scotland and Northern Ireland.

What does broadly comparable mean?

A variable that is broadly comparable means that outputs from Census 2021 in England and Wales can generally be compared with Scotland and Northern Ireland. Differences in how the data were collected or presented may reduce the ability to fully harmonise on outputs, but some harmonisation is still expected.

Find out more about variables produced for Census 2021 in Northern Ireland and Census 2022 in Scotland.

Census 2021 data that uses this variable

We use variables from Census 2021 data to show findings in different ways.

You can:

Alternatively, you can also create a custom dataset.

Other datasets that use this variable